To escape from the rising waters, millions of spiders crawled up into trees. The scale of the flooding and the slow rate at which the waters receded, have left many trees completely enveloped in spiders' webs.

Although slowly killing the trees, the phenomenon is seemingly helping the local population. People in Sindh have reported fewer mosquitos than they would have expected given the amount of stagnant water in the area. It is thought the mosquitoes are getting caught in the spiders' webs, reducing their numbers and the associated risk of malaria.

I've seen this phenomenon before. It may be incidental that the spiders are in the trees above a flood. More likely, the flood produced an abundance of midges and mosquitoes, allowing for this many spiders to occupy a single tree. See my journal of the giant webs of Texas:

http://spiderjoe.com/giant-webs-2007

Also, I'd love to see a photo of the dominant spider in these webs. I bet it's a Tetragnathid of the genus Tetragnatha.

Pete
on March 25, 2011 12:03 PM

More spiders = less flies? Who'd have thought it?

dfgd
on March 25, 2011 4:34 PM

spiders are our friends

Rob L
on March 26, 2011 6:00 AM

sometimes nature gives us a hand...

Uncle B
on March 26, 2011 12:55 PM

Life is tenuous at best for most the world, Few live as high on the hog as Americans do. remember: A fall from high places can hurt more! Living closer to the ground, these folks appreciate Mother Nature's grand plan for all living things, even rely on it for their very survival. Can mother Nature possibly contribute to the survival of the high living American when the crunch comes? Not likely, they live outside here realm, and in opposition to her rules, with little or no escape routes defined.